For the most part, Halle was okay with Baba Violette's low-key preference for Lucia. She was more like them; it made sense that his grandmother liked her better. And while Lucia definitely had her own stuff to worry about, it was very different stuff than Halle's – Lucia didn't have to worry about exorcisms, and as far as she knew, never left her own body.
Still, she couldn't deny that she would have liked more warmth from the old woman – more of a sense of acceptance and less being eyed.
Not that it mattered. Orion was comfortable with her; they had made good friends, and they were beginning to make a good... something else. Halle wasn't too worried about a label; it seemed like it would rub the relaxed Romani the wrong way. And that was the last thing she was interested in.
"We're not even inside, it can't be uninteresting yet," she teased. Her smaller body was through the door first, eyes adjusting to the new light as it was closed carefully behind them. It was dark, as she had advised, but basked in an eerie greenish glow – the result of the dim lights in the tanks and the beautiful green stone used in the building.
"I don't think we need a flashlight," she murmured, taking a moment to be absorbed by the emerald glow. "But yeah, I wasn't expecting you to flame up. It would upset the fish."